The Kansas bill which would allow spanking in schools as well as allowing parents to swat children up to 10 times and leave bruising without legal repercussions has died in committee. Here are 2 stories about that:

Fox News reports that in Kansas there is a bill proposing allowing spanking in schools. Supporters claim that it would help children learn to respect authority. This bill would allow parents, and those to whom they give permission, to leave redness and bruising.

The Wichita Eagle has more information about the spanking bill. Apparently they are trying to define the difference between corporal punishment and abuse and protect parents from legal retribution when they hit a child under those guidelines. This is generating a lot of controversy, I will keep my eyes on it.

Jennifer Stahl has been explaining about child abuse going on in German churches on her Blog, Yeshua Hineni. In this post she writes about the Pearl’s book To Train Up A Child which, while not being sold, is available “under the table.” She Translates and transcribes a video about the concerns one woman has for her brother’s children being raised by this method.

I would also like to mention that Jennifer has been reporting on a very serious abuse case called, The Twelve Tribes in Germany. She has put a lot of work into this, tirelessly translating and transcribing from German, for the English speaking world to read.

Michael Pearl says that his teachings are Biblical. Lee Woofenden does not agree and he explains why in his post, To Train Up A Child, or: Spare the Rod? What Rod? This is a long article and worth the read. He points out, among other things, that Mr. Pearl is actually teaching parents to condition their children which is not Biblical.

Steph is a graduate student working on her Master’s thesis on the topic of corporal punishment. If you are a parent, please consider helping her by taking this survey.

By taking this survey, I hereby give my consent to participate in the following research study conducted by Steph. I understand that my participation in this project will involve questions about my experiences, attitudes and feelings regarding the use of corporal punishment and other discipline techniques. I understand that completing the questionnaire will take me no longer than 20-30 minutes.

Participation is completely voluntary and I am free to not respond to any item and to withdraw my consent from the study at any time. I understand that there is no penalty for refusal to participate or withdraw from the study.

I understand my answers will be completely anonymous. My name will not be identified with any data collected in the study and responses will be considered for confidential research use only.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3C98FNH

Note: The survey has been completed, thank you for your participation.

The Spanking Controversy has been in the public eye quite often lately. More and more often, it focuses on the religious aspect. For example, Cynthia from K-12 News Network expresses concerns about Corporal Punishment in “Tiger Moms” Now Usurped by “Wolf Dads”. Of course, this piece mainly focuses on cultural attitudes towards spanking, but she does discuss the Schatz Tragedy and the Christian Spanking Controversy so I thought that it would be of interest to my readers.

Christianity Today Magazine has an article about Corporal Punishment in their January 2012 Issue which you might want to purchase. When and if they post it online, I will post a link to it. This article mentions Hana Alemu “Williams”, Lydia Schatz and Sean Paddock and the influence of To Train Up A Child by Michael and Debi Pearl. It then goes on to discuss the spanking controversy and Professor William Webb’s book, Corporal Punishment In The Bible.

Samuel Martin has sent out the following request asking us to check out and respond to this article in the National Post. He gives a different link to the same story, but my link has photos and lives links.

Dear friends,

Best wishes from Jerusalem.

I would like to ask all of my friends, especially those in Canada, to visit the link in the following article:

– if you agree that we need to give additional attention and information about the Biblical arguements against corporal punishment.

Her excellent article gives a great deal of attention to Mr. Pearl and his views. I think it appropriate that the same attention be given to alternate views based upon high levels of scholarship held by Christians like Prof. William Webb, Prof. Dawn Devries, Emeritus Prof. I. Howard Marshall, Dr. Randall Heskett and myself as well as Jewish scholars like Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe (of blessed memory)), Rabbi Moses Feinstein (of blessed memory) or others in addition to what was mentioned in the article.

If you agree with that, I would appreciate it if you’d drop the author a message.

Erik Eckholm of The New York Times has written a well researched and carefully balanced article about the Pearls called Preaching Virtue of Spanking, Even as Deaths Fuel Debate. Unfortunately, in his effort to be balanced, he really didn’t warn against the Pearls’ teachings at all. The comments are many and one of them links to my site, for which I am grateful.

Christianity Today Reviews Corporal Punishment In The Bible by New Testament scholar William Webb. This book is of interest because while the author concludes that the Bible teaches harsh corporeal punishment, he also concludes that we are no longer to apply such harsh teachings.

Also, Aubry Grace reviews the same book on her blog, My Offerings. She writes about how this book has freed her to give up spanking and she is now looking for alternatives. It gives me great pleasure to direct her to my posts on Gentle Parenting.

Patrick Morgan, who writes the Cybersattva Blog, wrote an email to No Greater Joy Ministries about his concerns with To Train Up A Child. He received a reply from the Assistant General Manager which he posts along with his commentary. Note that he adds commentary in the comments.

CNN continues its investigative report of abuse among fundamental Christians and how it relates to the Pearls’ teachings. Jocelyn Zichterman, who was raised in this culture and started Freedomfromabuse.net, explains the concept of Breaking The Will and how spankings must continue until the child submits even if it takes several hours. This video seems to cut suddenly, I’m wondering if this series will continue.

When I was ten until I was twelve years old, I attended a small non-denominational Christian school in which spanking was permitted. Although such practice is almost unheard of now, even among private schools, it was fairly common a few decades ago. Of course, like most Christians who spank, the rationale for using a paddle as a disciplinary tool was because “the Bible said so.” As has been noted here several times, the “rod” verses are time and again misinterpreted, as is so much in the Bible these days.

My personal experiences with spanking were absolutely terrifying. Every teacher had the power to spank, and the offenses that called for spanking were at the discretion of the teacher. Since none of my peers knew what could provoke a spanking, we went to school in constant fear. The one instance that stands out most for me was being spanked for a dubious reason.

It was gym class, and one rule that was established at the beginning of the year was that students could not wear jewelry for the duration of the class. One day, I was wearing a new digital watch that my mother had given me for my birthday. After we lined up Coach Baker yelled at me, “I thought I told you no jewelry.” I responded, very sincerely, that I didn’t know watches were jewelry. Immediately, my gym teacher, in a fit of rage, his voice raised several decibels higher, screamed, “Don’t you dare talk back to me.” And that was my first experience with spanking. I remember being confused, hurt, and humiliated, and I can say without hesitation that I have never felt like that before or since. But I didn’t learn anything, except that, apparently watches count as jewelry.

Having had a first-hand experience with spanking, I can say with a measure of authority that spanking does not produce results, neither short nor long-term. After leaving that school, I personally left the church, and refused to attend throughout my school years. Why? I felt that if a school like that could condone and embrace abuse, then I did not want to have any part of the religion or God associated with it. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that God is not about punishment, abuse, and humiliation. God is, in short, love.

But there are many children from Christian households who get spanked, and I don’t doubt for a second that a majority of these children will grow up to either forsake religion, or they will become adults who are angry, scared, or both. After all, as the joke goes, the quickest way for a Catholic to leave the religion is to send him to a Catholic school. I can’t tell you how many of my friends, having equated Christianity with hate and intolerance, stopped believing merely because their instructors in religious practice were angry people concerned only with physically and psychologically subduing those younger and weaker than them.

In the final analysis, then, spanking isn’t just bad for the child. We know that already. But it is bad for the future of our religion. Our Christian inheritance is distinguished from other religions in that it was the first belief system with its radical message of unconditional love. So for those who constantly cite the Old Testament rod verses, consider this, from the book of John:

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother” –I John 4:18-21.

Author Bio:

By Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 @ gmail.com.

Dulce de Leche shares a letter someone wrote to her pastor about her experiences with spanking and why she does not believe it should be preached from the pulpit. She shares her testimony of what it was like to be spanked and how it effected her. She also looks at the blurred distinction between spanking and abuse. This letter may be triggering so it is not for the faint of heart.